


Enter Wally West: Pursued by lightning

by rouija



Series: Electric Love [1]
Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Kid Flash origin story, Trans Male Character, Trans Wally West, Transphobia mention, mentions of child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27780919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rouija/pseuds/rouija
Summary: How Wally West became kidflash
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West
Series: Electric Love [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032351
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	1. Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> what i sat down to write: birdflash proposal story  
> what i actually wrote: this  
> also this chapter deals with child abuse

Iris West often said that the day her nephew Wally was born was the best day of her life. Looking down at the tiny baby in her arms, and seeing him look back up at her with a cheeky glint in his eye, she knew he would be trouble, and boy was she right. As Wally grew up, that cheek continued to grow with him. Iris would take Wally out every weekend to give her sister in law Mary and her brother Rudy a break. She introduced him to her boyfriend Barry and they got along like a house on fire. Barry joined their little outings to parks, funfairs, and museums, taking Wally’s newfound extreme interest in the Flash in his stride. 

It was the night after one of these outings together that an eleven-year-old Wally dropped two bombs on them. Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary, they had returned from a trip to the newly built Flash museum, Wally falling fast asleep in the back of the car. Barry had gently woken him up and sent him inside to get into pajamas so they could all settle down with take away and watch a movie. The spare room of their modest two bed house had basically become his second bedroom, all decked out in his favorite colors with flash posters to match, and even a small amount of clothes and pajamas so he didn't need to bring over a bag.  
Iris was loading up the movie when he padded back down the stairs and stood hesitating in the doorway. She sent a confused glance to Barry, he looked up spotting Wally, and asked   
“What's up bud?”   
Wally looked at the ground and fidgeted with the strings of his hoodie. “I wanna tell you something” he mumbled “but Dad told me not to”   
Iris sat back up on the couch and patted the spot in between her and Barry. Wally came over and sat down, he was clutching his stomach as if it might be in pain, whatever was on his mind was really worrying him.   
“You can tell us anything you want honey,” She said petting his hair softly “We won’t tell your dad, okay?”   
“Yeah, we're grown ups, and it's always a good idea to talk to a grown up about what’s wrong,” Barry said starting to rub Wally’s back   
“I'm -” Wally started with tears streaming down his face “I'm not a girl, I know I was born a girl but I don’t think that's right, and I dunno what to do.”  
He was fully crying now and Iris pulled him into her chest and kept petting his hair. “Honey, it’s okay, it’s totally okay, if you’re a boy inside that makes you a boy okay?”   
Wally started to cry louder.   
“I'm glad you told us this buddy, I know it was really scary,” Barry said   
It took Wally a few more minutes of being held by his aunt and having Barry and her tell him everything was okay before he calmed down enough to speak again.   
“You’re not mad?” He asked quietly   
“No of course not honey, why would we be mad?” Iris replied.   
Wally looked down at his feet, his hands starting to fidget again “Dad told me it was stupid” He said “and that I was defying god and I was sinful - he -he got really mad”   
Iris was seeing red, how could a parent say that about their flesh and blood? Her brother would be receiving a very angry phone call soon. Before she could speak Barry spoke up   
“When you say he got really mad - What did he do?” He asked Wally carefully, kneeling down in front of him and placing his hand on his shoulder.   
“He hit me”   
Iris pulled Wally into her chest and looked at her husband - without words they both knew what they had to do. 

After a long legal battle, with a large amount of aid from a certain Bruce Wayne, Rudolf and Mary West were deemed unsuitable parents for Wally. Wally had revealed that his dad’s abuse was ongoing, physically, and mentally. Barry and Iris were granted custody and Wally came to live with them. 

The day Wally was officially moving in, Barry came into his room to find him sitting on the floor, looking distant and upset. He slid down and sat beside him, his back leaning against the twin bed behind them. He looked over at what Wally was holding, it was a picture of him standing with Rudy and Mary in front of their christmas tree. All of them were dressed in their sunday best. Wally was nearly unrecognisable now, Iris had taken him to get his hair cut short after he came out, with a new wardrobe to match. He’d chosen the name Wally, it was a West family name. Iris was doing everything she could to get him started on blockers, if things changed he would be able to come off them with no issue, but she was still hitting endless roadblocks. For now, Wally seemed content with just their support with his name, because of the move he would be changing school, and Iris had basically stern emailed the school into submission to make sure his name was changed on all record records. 

Barry put his arm around Wally’s shoulder, pulling him close. Wally sniffed in response.   
“It’s okay to miss them you know” Barry said “They weren't good to you, but you trusted them and loved them”   
Wally shrugged and put the photo on the floor, he leaned into Barry but didn't say a word. Barry looked around the small room, or at least what was’nt covered in boxes, he glanced over the bookshelf of comics and various nick nacks from zoo visits and museum gift shops, past the desk where Wally’s chemistry set was set up, and landed on a flash poster. His own masked face smiled back at him. He made a decision.   
“You know,” He said, smiling at Wally “You’ve been telling us a lot of big secrets lately, I think it’s time I told you one of mine.”


	2. Lightning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this how medical care works? no   
> Are we gonna run with it? yes

Barry and Iris were out for the night, at a work party down at the news station. Twelve-year-old Wally was home alone, and he had a plan. Ever since Barry told him about being the Flash he’d be reading his notes on the experiment that gave him his super-speed over and over again. He could probably rattle them off, line by line with his eyes closed and hopping on one foot. He had everything he needed, his chemistry set was all set up on the garage workbench and a storm was raging outside. He mixed the chemicals, doused himself, and took a breath. Sliding the garage door open he stepped outside, there was a snap then black. 

Then, a beeping, steady but fast. It was bright, too bright, and his arms and legs felt stiff. He could hear voices, they were muffled, but they sounded familiar. He couldn’t place why yet but he was happy to hear them. They were comforting. Slowly Wally blinked his eyes open, dark spots faded away to show him white speckled tiles. He tried to sit up, but was pushed back down by a pair of strong arms, he looked up to see Barry - things started to flood back to him, images of the chemicals, the storm flashed before his eyes.   
“What happened?” he asked, his throat hurt with the effort of getting out his words and he thought he could feel a headache coming on.   
A hand squeezed his own and he looked to his other side to see his aunt Iris, she looked tired and her makeup was smudged with tears. She let out a sigh of relief to see him move and suddenly Wally felt engulfed in a hug. He tried to reciprocate but it hurt to move.   
“Honey we came home to find you passed out on the drive” She explained   
“The notes from the experiment that gave me my powers - they were all over the garage...and your chemistry set...Wally, what were you doing?” Barry asked, sitting down in a chair on the opposite side of Wally’s bed, placing his head in his hands.   
Slowly Wally moved into a sitting position, propping himself up on the white cushions behind him, he started to explain. About how he figured out how to recreate the experiment, and how he wanted to join Barry as his sidekick and help him help people and save people, and how he’d been tracking the weather for weeks to make sure there would be lightning.   
Barry and Iris looked shellshocked. Barry composed himself for a minute, running his hands down his face and sitting up.   
“Wally..” he started “You were pretty burnt when we found you, you could have been really hurt, you should have told me, we - we thought we’d lost you”   
“I'm sorry Uncle B,” Wally said, Iris swore she saw that old cheeky glint in his eye sparkle “But you would have just told me no” 

Barry made arrangements to move Wally to the watchtower medbay to properly monitor any signs that he was connected to the speed force. Getting the hospital to discharge him was easier than expected, considering how he seemed to have no burn wounds from the lightning. All the signs were pointing to Wally having been successful, his heartbeat was faster, he was running warmer, his appetite seemed to have tripled.   
Barry kept telling himself it was just puberty, but he couldn't get himself to believe it. He was in the lab, where he had been for hours, examining and rerunning test after test on Wally’s blood samples, recreating his mix of chemicals from the garage, doing anything he could to find anyway, any sliver of hope that Wally didn't succeed. He felt sick with the guilt of knowing Wally had put his life in danger just to emulate him. He hadn't been sleeping properly, he knew Iris was stressed about it too. She had taken a week off work to stay at the watchtower, virtually never leaving Wally’s side. Wally himself seemed to be feeling okay, his body was sore, he was complaining of aches and headaches but it got better every day. He was getting restless, wanting to move or just get out of bed, Barry and Iris were just too nervous to let him move  
Barry was so absorbed in watching the numbers run on the two large monitors in front of them that he didn't hear anybody enter the room. So when a voice asked “Whatcha doing?” beside him, he jumped about a mile, and let out a string of curses far to impolite for most audiences. Definitely not ones Robin should be hearing, although he seemed unfazed by his breakout, mostly ignoring Barry’s started response in favor of examining the numbers on the monitor. Barry had to stop himself from asking if Batman spoke like that at home. Did Robin live with batman? He didn't seem like the fatherly type? He shook his head to snap himself out of a spiral of imagining batman buying nappies and helping with homework.   
“Robin, don’t do that you scared me!” He said.   
Robin just looked at him and shrugged.   
“These numbers, they’re two heartbeats, right? You and somebody else?” He asked   
“Does Batman know you’re here?” Barry asked instead of answering, unsure if Robin was really somebody he should be disclosing that kind of information to.   
Robin smirked, it reminded Barry of Wally, cheeky and bold. “Not yet, but you know - he’s Batman”   
“Right uh well - maybe you should go, I have a lot to do,” Barry said turning away to check over another blood sample   
“No you don’t,” Robin said “You’ve been running the same tests for three days, and getting the same results- you’re avoiding going back to the medbay until evening like you have been for the same three days”  
Barry froze “Who told you about him?”   
“Dude, I know Batman is the world's greatest detective, but he hasn't taught me nothing”   
Barry turned to look at Robin, he was always struck by just how tiny he was, and how bright that costume was, so different from Batman in every way, but just as smart. He was looking back at him, the smirk replaced with a far too solid poker face for somebody his age. Barry leaned against the counter behind him and considered Robin for a second. Maybe Robin was actually just the right person, Wally had wanted to be a sidekick after all.   
“What age are you?” He asked   
“Young” Robin replied, Barry didn't know what he expected.   
“Right well, that’s my nephew, he’s whose in the medbay” He pointed at the second heartbeat, not as fast as his own “He wanted to be a sidekick so he doused himself in chemicals and ran out into the lightning”   
Robin let out a low whistle “Bold move, is he alright?”   
“He’s fine, restless, but fine - I just don’t know how to talk him out of the hero thing, he has the speed now sure but…”   
Robin nodded “Well, Batman would never have been able to stop me”   
Barry looked over at him “Seriously? Like -” He held his fingers up to his forehead to mimic the bat cowl “The big scary guy with the cape?”   
Robin laughed “That’s the one - told him I’d do it with or without him, and I'm guessing your nephew is the same.”   
The bat shadow arrived in the door, Robin smiled up at him, gave a little wave, and whispered “Watch this.”  
He took a running start and vaulted over one of the lab chairs, somersaulting several feet into the ear, as he reached the highest point he called out “Hey B, Catch!”. Batman’s eyes widened in panic and he rushed forward, just about getting his arms out in time to catch him bridal style.   
“Stop doing that” He grunted and swung the boy around to sit on his shoulders, turning to walk out the door. Robin turned back and gave Barry another wave. 

When Barry managed to pick his jaw off the floor he returned to his tests, there was no denying it Wally was showing signs of being connected to the speed force. There was really only one thing left to do - see if he could run.


	3. Moniters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are my least favorite chapter - quick warning for vomit mentions

The next afternoon Barry made his way up to Wally’s room in the medbay. Smiling and nodding at various leaguers along the way, they all left him well enough alone, Hal giving him a “you’re off the hook now but we are so talking about this later” look as he passed him. He knew he probably looked a mess, he badly needed a shave, and he couldn't remember the last time he took a break to shower.   
When he walked in Wally’s room he saw Iris asleep on the chair beside the bed, Wally was sitting up playing a game on his red DS he had gotten for Christmas last year. His tongue was sticking out the side of his mouth in concentration. He looked up when he noticed Barry and smiled at him. Barry walked over and sat down.   
“I've been running a lot of tests” He started, Wally nodded “I wanna run one more if you’re up for getting up and dressed”   
Wally nodded eagerly, and Barry disconnected the various monitors that were attached to him, tracking his heart rate and temperature, and gave him a gray tracksuit. He nearly proved his superspeed with how quickly he launched himself out of the bed and ran into the adjoining bathroom to get dressed. It started Iris awake, and she immediately turned to her husband for an explanation. 

Inside the bathroom, Wally thought he could almost feel his skin vibrating with the excitement of being finally allowed out of his bed. He had barely been able to see the watchtower outside of the med bay, having been asleep when he was moved. He finished getting changed and looked at himself in the mirror, he may feel different but he looked completely the same.   
He stepped back out and followed Barry down several corridors and out of the medbay.   
They kept walking and descended two flights of stairs, reaching double doors that opened into a large hall. It looked like a PE hall to Wally, but at least three times the size, with a track running around the edges and some kind of digital system on the floor in the center.   
A blur was rapidly approaching them from the far right of the track, a mix of red and grey. As it gradually slowed down the form of an older man started to appear, Wally could barely believe his eyes when he started to see the distinctive tin hat and red shirt of Jay Garrik, the first-ever flash. Jay stopped in front of them with a bright smile, he pulled Barry into a warm one-armed hug.   
Barry turned to Wally, who was standing absolutely star-struck beside him.   
“Walls, This is Jay Garrik, he was the first Flash, before me, Jay this is my nephew Wally”   
“Hi, Mr.Garrick” Wally said nervously.   
Jay smiled down at Wally and gave him a hearty handshake. “Son, you just call me Jay alright? I’m here because your uncle wanted my help in teaching you a few tricks”   
Wally looked from Jay to his uncle, he was starting to put the pieces together. “You want me to try to run?” he asked Barry eagerly.   
Barry sighed but nodded anyway, “We just gotta figure out if it worked, I’m not saying yes to this whole sidekick business just yet - but, you’re showing a lot of signs, I’ve been running tons of tests but this is the best way to be sure” 

Barry showed Wally the digital system that he would be using to track his speed. After a few tutorials from Jay and Barry about how to stop, Barry presented Wally with a pair of orange goggles. “These will help with stopping your eyes from watering, the tracksuit is made of a special material as well it’ll prevent you from chaffing too bad”. Wally lined himself up on the finishing line and Barry placed his hand on his shoulder, he looked him dead in the eye. “If this doesn't work I need you to promise me, you won’t try again okay?”  
“It's gonna work” Wally said definitely pushing the goggles down over his eyes. Barry sighed and moved away to give him space. “Whenever you’re ready bud,” he said when he reached his set up of monitors. 

Wally stared down the track, he had expected the goggles to tint everything orange, but they were clear. It struck him he had no idea how to do this, did he just run normally, or was there some kind of trick. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on pushing out his restless energy from the past week stuck in bed. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and pushed off the block behind him.   
For a moment he felt his stomach turn as it seemed nothing was happening, but then he felt an electric feeling spread around his body, time seemed to slow down around him. When he looked a Barry and Jay they seemed to be frozen, moving in slow motion. He couldn't stop himself from starting to laugh, he had done it. It worked.   
As he rounded the corner of the track, he tripped on air. Everything speed up quickly, far too quickly, he skidded across the floor, stopping about five feet from where he had fallen. He felt the tarmac of the track scratching his skin, he spun onto his front as he slowed down, managing to stop himself and push up onto his arms.   
In an instant Jay and Barry appeared at his side, they grabbed his arms and slowly pulled him upright. Without warning, the contents of Wally's stomach landed on the ground in his place. He coughed and sputtered as Jay moved him to sit on the ground a foot away. Barry knelt down beside him, with concern on his face.   
“You alright buddy?”   
Wally couldn't help it, he started laughing again, he smiled up at Barry “I did it uncle B!” 

After the vomit was cleared, Wally had changed and eaten, he successfully talked Barry into letting him try again. He agreed to do it on the condition that he ran with Wally so that if he tripped again he could catch him. Jay took over monitoring duties, recording Wally’s speed.   
On the first attempt, Wally tripped again but didn't puke. His scrapes were disappearing as quickly as they appeared thanks to his new accelerated healing. On his second, third, and fourth attempts, he was still tripping.   
“You’re slowing down at the corner, you need to speed up instead, you’ll feel like you’re gonna go over but you won't - just trust it,” Jay told him from the monitors 

Wally nodded and lined himself up again, Jay gave him a signal and he took off again. He could feel the energy moving through his body, pushing to go forward, as he approached the corner, Jay's words echoed in his head “just trust it”, he looked over at Barry running beside him and concentrated on pushing that energy around the corner. He felt his body nearly turn horizontal from the force of his speed as he rounded the corner, but as soon as it started, he was on the straight on the other side. When he met the next corner, it wasn't as scary, and before he knew it he was pulling to a stop beside Barry, back at the start of the track. Barry cheered and picked up, spinning him around.   
“Perfect kiddo!” Jay called   
“Now let's do that 20 more times” Barry laughed putting Wally down.   
Wally felt like he could do it forever. 

In the monitor room, Robin was dwarfed by the large black chair he was sitting cross-legged in. For an orbiting satellite in the middle of space, filled with superheroes, the watchtower wasn't very interesting. Bruce had been forced to bring him up here while Alfred was away in England on his biannual leave. He was old enough to fight crime, but not to be left home alone, apparently. This left him doing his homework in full Robin gear on a chair clearly designed for somebody closer to superman’s size than his. He had managed to sneak out yesterday, for about half an hour before Batman found him again and marched him right back. If you consider piggyback rides marching that is. It had been pretty great to see the reactions of various league members to see the dark knight carting him around on his shoulders, several had struggled to hide their amused smiles behind gloves and gauntlets.   
Sneaking out wasn’t an option today it seemed, Bruce was keeping him well within his feed of vision and glancing over to make sure he will still there every couple of minutes.   
Bruce was sitting intently watching one feed in particular, deeming it more interesting then his maths homework Dick leaned over to get a better look at the screen.   
It was a training room, with a track and a digital sparing ring in the center. He could make out three figures, two standing by the start of the track, both talking animatedly with their arms gesturing wildly, another man sat at a desk on the side of the sparing ring, surrounded by monitors and machines. Dick recognized this man as Jay Garrick, the first flash. One of the other men was Barry, the kid he was talking to must be the nephew he was talking about in the lab. They stopped talking and set up on the starting line of the track, Jay raised his hands and they turned into blurs, the camera could barely keep up, the blurs only appearing every five or so frames. One of the blurs began to flash, Dick watched as Barry’s nephew skidded halfway across the sparing ring. Without thinking he let out a low hiss at the thought of the pain of hitting the floor at that speed. Batman turned to him and raised his eyebrow, “Homework done then chum?” he deadpanned.   
Dick chose to ignore his question, after all, it's always best not to lie. “Is that Barry’s nephew?” he asked, nodding at the screen.   
Bruce nodded “It seems he was successful”   
“Do you think Barry will take him on, as a sidekick?”   
“Maybe, he seems, concerned about it”   
“So were you” Dick reminded him   
Bruce just hummed, turning back to the screen.


	4. Plastic Dinosoars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we've come to the end - stay tuned on this sires as it will have more child antics, and eventually birdflash

Wally was exhausted and hungry in a way he had never felt before, they must have run the track over a thousand times. Barry had even introduced obstacles, and hurdles, testing his jumping, reaction times. Nearly everything and anything he could test, he did. When he was finally finished Wally was pointed in the direction of the shower. Barry had produced a bag of his clothes from home for him to wear, he was glad to see the end of his hospital gown.   
He stepped into the severely fancy shower, feeling his muscles relax under the stream. He may be exhausted but he couldn't shake the feeling of elation he felt from being successful. The thrill of running and feeling the world move around him was the most freeing thing he had ever experienced. Running with Barry was even better, sharing such a rare experience with the man he had come to think of as his father was incredible.   
He shut off the shower and dried off, humming to himself as he got dressed.   
Barry met him outside, and lead him down a different corridor to a room filled with soft-looking couches, it reminded Wally of one of those fancy VIP lounges at the airport, just without a bar.   
“Wait here alright, Iris will be down soon with your stuff,” Barry told him   
“Am I going home?” Wally asked hopefully.  
“Yeah Bud” Barry nodded. Wally nearly knocked him over with the force of the hug   
“Thanks, dad” he mumbled into Barry’s shirt. Barry was taken aback by the title but patted Wally’s hair and embraced him back.   
“I love you kid, I hope you know that,” He said   
Wally looked up at him and nodded. Taking one last glance at the child he thought he lost, Barry stepped away and left the room. 

Wally turned to take in the room around him a bit more. It was nearly as big as his whole house. The couches and armchairs were sleek and modern looking, a plush cream leather. They were arranged in groups around glass coffee tables, there were a few stray magazines and novels left around.   
Wally turned his attention to the massive window that made up the back wall. The view immediately drew him in and he moved between the chairs and couches to get a closer look.   
The vastness of space looked back at him, he could see the earth. Thousands of consultations making up the cities all looking so tiny below him. The stars seemed to reach on forever. He couldn’t help but feel small at that moment, looking out into something far too huge to comprehend.   
“Weird isn’t it?” A voice said   
Wally jumped about a mile in the air, clutching his heart he spun around to find the source. A small boy about his age was lounging on one of the couches behind him, a large book open in his lap. Papers were scattered over the glass coffee table in front of him. He had messy black hair and was smirking.   
Wally must have walked right past him, although with a costume that bright he’s not sure how he did.   
“You’re Robin!” He said dumbly   
“Yep” The boy's smirk got wider   
“Sorry uh I’m Wally I’m The Flash’s nephew” Wally stuttered. He stuck out his hand for a handshake, before realizing it was kinda clammy, he rubbed it on his jeans and offered it again with an awkward laugh.   
Robins's eyes widened for a brief moment under the mask, he sat up and looked at Wally’s hand for a moment, before leaning over and giving him a high five.   
“Heard you blew yourself up,” He said   
Wally laughed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly “Hah yeah kinda, it was a bit more scientific than that”   
“Mhm the keen science of human combustion, I'm familiar”   
Wally laughed “Alright I kinda blew myself up, but it was for a good cause, and it worked”   
“Gotta say, Wally, I like your style,” Robin said “I went with the old emotional manipulation to get the gig myself but yours is a little more theatrical”   
Wally frowned “Yeah well I haven’t got the gig yet”   
“He’ll come around eventually”   
Wally considered Robin's words for a bit, but couldn’t think of anything else to say.   
“You any good at trigonometry?” Robin asked after a while, scowling at his book and various papers as if they had personally offended him.   
Wally lit up, and planted himself down beside Robin on the couch, picking up his pencil, and launched into breaking down the homework problems. After they were done they fell into easy conversation, Robin told Wally about his many pranks on Batman and other league members, Wally talked about school, about finding out he was related to the Flash, anything and everything they could think of. Wally didn't know if he was going to be a sidekick but he hoped Barry would let him see Robin again.   
\--------------

When Iris walked into the lounge room an hour later she heard Wally before she could see him, he was talking to somebody on the other side of the room. She looked at the maze of chairs and tables in front of her, then looked back at the suitcase in her other hand. Yeah, that isn't happening she thought leaving it behind and making her way down towards the window. She had visited the watchtower a few times over the years but she never quite got used to the view of endless space seen from every window.   
As she drew closer to where Wally was she saw who she was talking to, Barry had mentioned meeting Robin before, he and Hal had been caught up in one of his pranks involving the buttering of the league's board room floor. Wally was in the middle of describing one of his own pranks on Barry and herself that involved hiding over one hundred small plastic dinosaurs around the house. She’d found them everywhere, falling out of cereal boxes, in her shoes, on high shelves, in her car, and even tapped to the back of the television. Iris still wasn't sure they had found them all, she only noticed the one in the fish tank last week, or where Wally had even gotten a hundred plastic dinosaurs from Up until then she had assumed Hal had done it to mess with Barry. She did think it was clever for Wally to hide them around his room too. She cleared her throat, startling Wally mid-sentence, he looked at her like a deer in headlights, caught red-handed - or caught with a hand full of plastic dinosaurs.   
“You may want to apologies to your uncle Hal, I've been passive-aggressively mentioning dinosaurs to him every time he comes over,” She said raising her eyebrow and her sheepish looking nephew   
Robin snickered into his glove and Wally gave him a betrayed look “Dude! - Oh! Sorry Aunt I this is Robin, Robin this is my Aunt Iris”   
Robin smiled up and Iris and gave her a small wave “Nice to meet you, Mrs.West!”   
“You too” She smiled back before turning to Wally “I’m afraid its gonna be a quick hello and goodbye because It’s time for us to go home Wals”   
“Ahh okay,” Wally groaned, getting up and saying his goodbyes to Robin a little sadly. Yesterday he had been eager to get home, but meeting Robin seemed to have changed that completely. They made their way out past all the chairs, Iris made a note to ask Barry what the use of the room was exactly. Grabbing the abandoned suitcase she guided Wally through the corridor to the main lobby of the watchtower. They found him standing with his back to them with speaking with Hal in hushed voices, Iris could pick up bits of what they were saying, mentions of training and looking out for somebody. Hal spotted her and Wally, giving Barry a tap on the shoulder and pointing them out to him, and waving them over.   
“Hey kiddo,” Hal said picking Wally up and spun him around “You’re getting big!”   
“I’m 5”3 now!” Wally said proudly when he was returned to the floor. Hal laughed and ruffled his hair “You’ll be taller than all of us in no time!”   
He turned to Iris “Hey I, got any more dinosaur facts?”   
“No, but I think Wally might be able to tell you all about the one hundred plastic ones he left around the house,” She said, raising her eyebrows at Wally.   
“That was you?” Barry asked “I thought it was Hal, I just ordered two hundred of the things to do it back”   
“Heh yeah” Wally rubbed his neck sheepishly “Sorry you got blamed, Uncle Hal”   
“Hey,I learned a lot about dinosaurs” Hal shrugged 

After saying their goodbyes to Hal the little family headed home. Iris had parked the car outside the closed butcher's shop beside the alleyway that hid the zeta tube in Central city. The drive home was mostly silent. The most conversation happening when they pulled into a drive-through for food.   
“You’re gonna have to order a lot more than unusual, your metabolism is working faster and you need more food to sustain it or you’ll get like majorly hungry” Barry explained to Wally. They ordered four burger meals, two meatball subs, two portions of fries, and large drinks each - with a chicken burger meal for Iris. The teenager working raised an eyebrow but ultimately seemed to decide he wasn't paid enough to care.   
They brought home their haul and set up at the dinner table. It had always bewildered Iris to watch Barry eat, but seeing him and Wally doing it together was just insane. She wondered how much her food budget would need to increase each month.   
When they finally finished eating Barry cleared his throat and look at Iris pointedly, she nodded, she knew they had talked over every aspect of this, staying up all night the day before, she didn't love it, but it was better than their other options,   
“Wally, what you did was reckless, and scared us a lot. When I found you I honestly thought you had died” He started   
“I’m sorry, I didn't think about the after, just wanted it to work,” Wally said, fidgeting his hands in his lap   
“I’m not mad buddy, I just never wanna lose you, neither does your aunt, we love you a lot”   
“I love you guys too”   
“I know buddy. I think it’s great that you wanna help people, and be a hero, but it’s really dangerous, there are some really bad people out there and I dunno how I could live with myself if you got hurt”   
Wally looked down at the ground dejected before Barry continued   
“So, if you’re gonna run with me, you’re gonna train, I know that if I don't let you do it with me, you’re just gonna go out and do it by yourself and I don’t want that.”   
“You really mean it? I get to run with you?” Wally asked, his head shooting back up in surprise   
“Yes - but only when you’re ready, I want you to train for at least a year, and no supervillains, you’re gonna help me with the small stuff, minor robberies, cats in trees, and gathering information only” Barry insisted.   
“And you cannot tell a soul,” Iris said “Nobody can know about your speed or what you and Barry do okay? They could use that information to hurt you”   
Wally nodded “I promise, I won’t tell anybody - wait oh shit-”   
“Language”   
“- I already told Robin my name is that okay?”   
Barry smiled, he’d hoped the two would get along when he sent Wally to the same room Batman’s boy wonder was camping out in. “That’s okay, I trust batman, so I trust Robin. He understands how important it is, no league member outside of the big three knows who he and Batman really are. You’ll need a codename too though” Barry said, picking up one of Iris’s leftover chips, waving it around thoughtfully while he spoke.   
Wally considered this for a moment “How about Speedy?”   
Barry laughed “Yeah about that….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wally being annoyed at Roy being called speedy is cannon btw


End file.
